It never fails. Intelligent teachers, attempting to learn more about current technology, feel lost and confused when presented with something new. How is it that these well educated, competent adults find themselves feeling like the first day of Kindergarten?

The simple answer is, that educated adults feel we should already KNOW how to do things. “I’m smart. I have a Master’s degree. Why can’t I understand Twitter?” The answer, really, is because you ARE smart. Children learn things quickly and adapt as the technology changes mostly because they don’t know anything else. Those of us that have been around several decades – or more – aren’t as quick to accept the steep learning curve or the new vocabulary.

One friend of mine commented, “I don’t have to learn about the Internet. It will be a passing fad and won’t be around more than about a year.” Oops. Prediction slightly incorrect.

Just when we get comfortable with how something works in the Cloud environment, it has a new update. Things get moved. It’s made “better” or at least different. As a teacher in an online environment with adult learners, this makes it constantly changing. Not such a bad thing, mind you, but I can’t just create my assignments and rest on my laurels. Matter of fact, I can’t do that with my face-to-face elementary students, either.

Even though our knees need a few moments of bending and resting, falling is a bit tough for those of us that have a few decades behind us. The easiest cure for this issue is keeping up with the right blogs and feeds. My favorite, Educational Technology and Mobile Learning, has captured my heart and brought me to my knees – a lot. They never fail to provide me with a new tip, a cool update or an awesome infographic.

Don’t be afraid of the new stuff. Dig in. You won’t break it. Really. Your professional team will suddenly expand if you join a Twitter Chat or follow some folks that are like minded. Technology changes every day, every hour it seems. Grab hold and let’s go for a grand ride!